Two gold medals for England's archers at Commonwealth Games test event

ENGLAND'S archers have served a message of intent ahead of the Commonwealth Games in October by claiming two team gold medals and a bronze at the test event in Delhi in Thursday. 

Both the England men's and women's compound archery teams captured gold this morning, while the men's recurve team won bronze this afternoon.

The competition is the test event for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October, which is archery's second appearance on the Commonwealth Games programme.

The England women's compound trio of Andrea Gales, Nicky Hunt and Nichola Simpson beat Malaysia 219-214 in their semi-final this morning to set up a final against the host nation.

In the final, India were 111-109 up after two of the four ends, but England took the third end 59-57 to level things up and the two teams tied at 54-each to make the score 222-222.

The gold medal contest went to a three-arrow shoot-out. Gales, Simpson and Hunt each hit a ten to seal victory against the India team, who shot eight, nine and eight.

Simpson said: "We had a bit of a glitch in the middle of the final, but then went a bit stronger and pulled it together when we had to at the end.

"We've been working really hard as a squad and it's really good to win," said the Oxford-based archer. "We wanted to come here to see what the facilities are like ahead of the Commonwealth Games and everything has been really good here."

The England men's compound team of James Bingham, James Forbes and Mark Franklyn had to overcome India in the semis, a feat they achieved by 226-225 to set up a final against Malaysia.

England shot consistently well and were ahead from the first arrow. They took the first end 59-56, the second 58-56, but were edged out of the third 59-58 to go into the final end with a four-point advantage. They went on to take gold 232-229.

"We shot brilliantly as a team, we dropped very few points," said Franklyn. "There are some strong teams here that have come on so much in the last four or five years, so it was never going to be easy.

"To have the opportunity to come here and see the legacy that the Commonwealth Games will leave behind for archery has been absolutely fantastic. The experience here has been incredible."

The men's recurve team of Rob Hallworth, Jon Shales and Lee Williams added a third medal of the campaign for England.

They went down 213-190 in their semi-final against India, who went on to win gold, but the England trio then beat Scotland 210-203 in the bronze medal match.

Approximately 100 archers from ten nations are taking part in the test event, which is at the Yamuna Sports Complex, one of the archery venues for the Delhi Commonwealth Games.